Edward Marsden "Eddie" Waring (21 February 1910 in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire – 28 October 1986) was a British rugby league football coach, commentator and television presenter.
Waring's commentaries on rugby league divided opinion: for some viewers he would be "Uncle Eddie" the warm and friendly voice of the north but others believed that his voice simply conformed and promoted stereotypes.[1]
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Waring was never a noted rugby league player, he was actually more proficient at football - once having trials with Nottingham Forest.[2] Waring began his career as a typewriter salesman in his home town of Dewsbury, but he swapped that career to use typewriters instead as he joined a local newspaper reporting on rugby league matches.
Alongside his fledging journalist career he ran the local Dewsbury Boys Rugby League Club, chosing to rename them the Black Knights, which foreshadowed how Super League clubs became branded some 60 years later. During World War II Waring managed Dewsbury RLFC as he was exempt from armed service due to an ear condition. Making use of men from the nearby military camp, he led the club to its second ever Challenge Cup victory in 1943 - the club's last ever success in the competition.
Waring travelled on the HMS Indomitable with the Great Britain national rugby league team on the first post-war tour of Australia. On returning home via the United States - he met Bob Hope who alerted Waring to success of televised sport is believed to have inspired him that television would crucial for the success of his beloved sport. Upon returning to the UK, he continued to push forward his case to the BBC having written to them as far back as 1931. After several rejections, he was given a chance to become a broadcaster when the Corporation began to cover the sport.
Waring's commentaries polarised opinion over the next decades - for some viewers he would be "Uncle Eddie" the warm and friendly voice of the north but others believed that his voice simply conformed and promoted stereotypes.[1]
During the 1960s, his eccentric mode of speech (rugby league was pronounced /rəɡˈbiː ˈliːɡɑː/), Hull Kingston Rovers as "Hulking Stan Rovers", and northern accent, began to be widely impersonated, largely due to the influence of Mike Yarwood. Students formed the Eddie Waring Society in his honour.
One of his most notable commentaries came in the 1968 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley, a rain-affected game in which he described Wakefield Trinity player Don Fox with the line "He's a poor lad" after he missed a last minute kick from in front of the posts against Leeds - the miss handed the cup to his opponents.
Many of his commentary lines would become catchphrases connected to the game including, "It's an up and under" [3](a rugby tactic consisting of kicking the ball in a high arc, while the rest of the team rushes toward the landing point, hoping to gain possession and field position) and "He's goin' for an early bath." [1] (frequently heard during a game when a player was sent off the field for a serious foul). The Times newspaper in March 2006 published a list of 25 favourite sporting quotes and one of Waring's appeared there.
Waring branched out, appearing as a presenter on the television series, It's a Knockout, and as the UK's representative on the international umpiring team for the European version of the show, Jeux Sans Frontieres, where his striped blazer made him easy to spot.
Eddie also had an endearing sense of humour, taking on occasional appearances in such famous TV comedy programmes as The Morecambe and Wise Show and The Goodies.
The split in opinion regarding his contribution to the game plus illness led a decline for Waring's popularity. A petition had been organised by some hardcore supporters asking the BBC to remove him from commentary as he was perceived to be portraying a poor image of the game and its northern roots.[4] The BBC however stuck with him as their main commentator.
It was illness that would affect him over the next few years and in some of his later commentaries it was clearly noticeable that he was beginning to struggle to identify players. He commentated on his last Challenge Cup Final in 1981.
Waring's overall health declined very quickly after his retirement from the commentary box. He was diagnosed with dementia and died at High Royds psychiatric hospital in Leeds in 1986.